28 bodies exhumed in Mexico mass grave

The bodies of at least 28 people have been exhumed from a mass grave in Veracruz, a stronghold of the Zetas, one of Mexico’s most bloodthirsty cartels, prosecutors said.

The bodies were found at an abandoned ranch by members of an army patrol.

Some of them had been in the grave for more than a month, said Arturo Herrera, a prosecutor in Veracruz.

Herrera said they have been exhumed over the course of the past two days.

There have been numerous mass graves found all across Mexico since the government in 2006 launched a military offensive against drug cartels.

After President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012, the government said it had a database of 26,000 missing people, although it has since said that the figure might be revised downward.

The government says another 80,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006.